Iceland Foods, the British frozen-food supermarket chain, has built its visual identity around a red typographic wordmark. The current logo is a straightforward wordmark treatment of the company name, with the brand name itself serving as the primary visual asset rather than a pictorial symbol.
Design and History
Iceland’s visual identity has undergone two documented phases. The first logo was designed by Sir Terence Conran in 1985, a red and white mark that remained in use for 16 years. [1] [2]
In March 2000, Iceland announced a major rebranding effort. The company replaced its Conran-designed logo with a new identity that incorporated the internet address into the store fascia, rebranding its chain of supermarkets as Iceland.co.uk. The £8 million redesign was applied across stores, vans, packaging and marketing communications over an 18-month period. [3] [4]
The new identity was created by Stuart Price of Insight Design Consultants in Manchester, a former Iceland designer. Price worked alongside the Iceland in-house team, which was rolling out redesigned packaging and point-of-sale materials. [5]
The rebranding was motivated by the company’s desire to combine the marketing of its web service with its physical stores. Iceland chief executive Malcolm Walker said the change represented the future of British retailing, in which consumers would buy commodities online and do everyday shopping on the high street. [3] The company was also seeking to shed a downmarket image. [2]
As part of the same rebranding, Iceland changed its trading name from Iceland Frozen Foods to Iceland Foods from June 2000. [3]
Typography and Design
For the 2000 identity, Price brought in typographer Jeremy Tankard to create a custom typeface for the Iceland wordmark. [5]
Brand color data for the current Iceland identity lists a red tone (hex #CC082C, referred to as Monza) alongside white and a dark grey (hex #383838). [6]
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